


Genius Bordering on Madness

by sambethe



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 15:26:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sambethe/pseuds/sambethe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three Animagi are realised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Genius Bordering on Madness

'Aha! Wordless! Why didn't I see that?'

Sirius groaned and routed under his pillow for his wand, hoping a well-placed silencing spell in James' direction might get him some well-deserved sleep. Before he could find it though, he heard the rustling of curtains and the padding of feet across the stone floor. He pulled the nearest pillow up over his face and braced himself for the inevitable.

'Sirius? Did you hear me?'

'Go away, James.'

James poked him in the rib and settled down on the bed with a bounce. 'What was that? Can't hear you on account of that pillow stuck to your face.'

He groaned again and tented the pillow slightly. 

'Don't you ever sleep?'

'Sleep? _Sleep?_ Who can sleep in the face of such brilliance?'

Sirius rolled away from him and burrowed down into his duvet, only to find it immediately yanked away and replaced by 9 stone of scrawny boy.

'Come on,' James whined. 'I think I know what those last few paragraphs of Maddock were on about. The spell at the end must be done wordlessly, otherwise how would you reverse it later? I sent Pete -'

Sirius bolted upright and stifled a laugh when James went tumbling off the bed. 

'Why didn't you say so?' 

James turned his head to scowl at him, but its effect was somewhat lessened by the crooked tilt of his glasses.

*

'I'm not going first.'

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes at Peter.

'What? Why am I expected to be the guinea pig? I don't see why James ought not have the honour, seeing as he's the one who sorted out the last of the spell.'

Sirius choked on his liquorice wand and both Peter and James turned towards him with raised eyebrows.

'Sorry, was just imagining Pete as a guinea pig, all soft and furry with one of those twitchy little noses.'

He watched as the corner of James' mouth curled and Peter proffered two fingers in his direction. Ignoring them both, Sirius reached a hand out for one the waiting goblets. 'Give it over then,' he said. James offered him one and he sniffed at the viscous purple liquid it contained; it reminded him of something that wouldn't look amiss within his mother's study in Grimmauld Place. Pushing that thought from his mind, he closed his eyes, raised the potion to his lips and focused on the words they'd memorised.

Whilst the books had spoken of initial shock of transformation, the wave of nausea and dizziness still took him by surprise. Once it had passed, though, he realised that he didn't feel fundamentally any different. Determined not to let his disappointment show if it hadn't worked, he kept his eyes closed and he stretched out a hand to give it an experimental wiggle. He felt his arm move, but it was jerky and he struggled to keep his balance. Opening on eye, he peered down at his hand and found a massive, hairy paw in its stead.

Biting back a grin, he looked over to where Peter and James were sitting and was greeted by the sight of two boys staring back at him with open mouths.

*

James crossed his arms over his chest and flopped back on to his bed. 'A bloody stag!' 

Sirius took a deep breath and tried to think of something comforting to say; he broke out into another round of laughter instead. Peter fell down next to him on the floor, which only caused the two of them to laugh harder. 

'Well,' Peter said, once he got himself under control, 'a stag is noble creature, a symbol of kings.'

Sirius felt the tears begin to trickle down his face with that, but he couldn't be bothered to wipe them away.

'A symbol of kings?' James moaned. 'What bloody fucking good is that? No one is going to blink twice at a dog, even one that massive. And a rat can go pretty much anywhere he pleases without being noticed, it's brilliant! But a stag? It isn't exactly something you'd find roaming about just anywhere.'

Sirius brought himself upright and looked over at where James was collapsed on his bed. 'James, mate, I think you might be forgetting why we wanted to do this in the first place.'

'Oh.' James sat up and blinked. ' _Oh._ '

James lay back down on his bed and silence fell over the dorm. Sirius leant back against the footboard of his bed and smiled. _Animagi_ , he thought and felt his smile spread into a grin. After a moment he elbowed Peter and gestured for him to prod James. Once he had both their attention he allowed his grin to become positively Cheshire. James and Peter exchanged a glance.

Steepling his fingers and resting them against his lips, he said, 'Now we need to find a brilliant way to show Remus.'


End file.
